


I remember when, I remember when I lost my mind

by mostlikelydefinentlymad



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, I just really love sam wilson, M/M, POV Sam Wilson, Roommates, Sam and Bucky are lovehate bro's, Sassy Sam Wilson, Steve needs to use his words, Stucky - Freeform, after civil war? idk where this fits in, at least when it comes to Bucky, netflix and passive aggressiveness, sassy Bucky, the maturity is lacking, there's stucky in this too in that they gotta get over their emotional constipation, this tiny little cookie just wants to watch his stories, three grown ass men acting like children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 09:44:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7527865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mostlikelydefinentlymad/pseuds/mostlikelydefinentlymad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the domestic life (and bickering) of three grown men who have survived the worst that the world has thrown at them but cannot cope with the hogging of furniture and netflix.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I remember when, I remember when I lost my mind

Birdman.

Fly by night.

Batman.

Wings.

Amelia Earhearts copilot.

It wasn't the not-even-clever nicknames that got under Sam's skin. Nor was it the name "Bucky" scrawled onto milk cartons and orange juice containers, everything clearly labeled. It wasn't the smell of burnt popcorn at 3am when Steve and Bucky couldn't sleep and neither had quite mastered the microwave. Hell it wasn't even the empty roll of toilet paper in the bathroom or super soldier bodies carelessly taking up space.

Sam's issue with Bucky was solely invested in Netflix.

Due to a glitch under his account the service had lumped the three of them altogether. This meant that Disney movies (including Fox and the Hound. God Sam hates that one. Why couldn't Todd stay at home? Why no happy ending? And that _song),_ WWII documentaries that were never fully finished because one or the other began to disappear into their head and that never ended well. On the list as well were a cluster of brightly colored shows aimed toward children. Of all the thousands of choices, Steve and Bucky chose to watch Bill Nye the Science guy (okay that one is acceptable) or an animated series based on themselves. No that wasn't strange at _all._ Nope.

+

"What even is that?," Bucky pauses the television and points to a figure on the screen. The animated character wears a partial mask which conceals most of his eyes. It's midnight black and makes him appear sinister. Call him old fashioned but a little charcoal black mineral eyeliner would've been more effective and more discreet. 

Steve shifts on the couch and snakes one leg under Bucky's, squints at the screen. "I'm pretty sure it's supposed to conceal your identity."

 "Yeah but you can see the rest of my body and what about my voice?"

"Most of the people who could've identified you by it are dead, Buck."

That fact in particular is jarring but they're both learning to accept it. Still, Bucky takes it in stride. He leans forward to get a closer look at the character who is doing a horrible job at portraying him. Hes never been _that_ gruff with Steve. Right? 

He sits back and adjusts Steve's leg slightly so that his big toe is no longer digging into the underside of his thigh.

"Thanks for the reminder. I thought Dum Dum was still torturing us with his obsession over that one medic nurse. What was her name?"

Steve smirks. Bucky's sense of humor hasn't changed since the 1930s. His dry humor combined with a touch of sarcasm makes Steve feel all warm inside.

"Diane. He used to beg me to sketch her so he wouldn't forget her face. I told him it was creepy and he said it was no different than taking a photograph."

Bucky groans, drags out the sound. "By the end of the month I knew she had perfectly symmetrical breasts, a sister named Gracie, hated being called Di and she liked the chocolates that Dum Dum would give her out of the packages he got from home."

Having listened to their good 'ol days stories a thousand times over, Sam is tired. And for that matter he'd like to know what fate has in store for the creepy guy with a red skull for a face. God, they're sucking him into their terrible shows.

"Gettin' tired of looking at your ugly mug, Bucky. You gonna unpause it or what?"

As if they formed a single congealed unit, Steve and Bucky both turn in his direction. They're weird as hell like that. Always having half conversations finished with facial expressions and sly grins at inside jokes that they refuse to explain to Sam.

Beside of Steve, Bucky chuckles. "And here I was thinking you hated my beauty, Wilson. You've been staring at the screen for awhile."

 "No. It's the mask. It makes you come off as mysterious," Steve replies as he removes Bucky's thumb from the pause button and presses play.

Sam glares at the tv and ignores the two oversized super soldiers who are currently hogging the couch, leaving him to curl up in a threadbare lumpy chair.

On the screen Redskull is taunting Bucky and plastering him against the wall.

Sam gets about 4 minutes of uninterrupted silence before Steve pipes up with "He's about ten times more disturbing in person."

Bucky nods and it begins again.

Sam silently trudges to the kitchen and pours himself a nice cold glass of orange juice from a carton labeled "Bucky" "I have a knife, don't touch my things." The carton next to it reads "Don't test me."

Bring it on, he thinks to himself.

+

The three of them shuffle through the door, bone tired and covered in a combination of cement dust, florescent goo from _something_ that had fallen straight out of the sky (then attempted to kill them) and a thin sheen of sweat.

After such an exhausting day Sam is greatly looking forward to binge watching Grey's Anatomy and having a drink to unwind. His back aches and he's pretty sure he ruptured a vital organ or two when trying to fight off a swarm of some sort of disgusting alien hybrids.

Bucky slips away to put on clothes that don't smell putrid (he'd gotten the worst of it) and Steve plops down on the couch, remote in hand.

"Nuh-uh. We are _not_ watching Saving Private Ryan again."

Sam holds out his hand, palm side up.

Steve points the remote at the tv, ignoring his gesture. "For your information we're going to watch Bob's Burgers."

"Come on man, you know I don't like that show. The kid with the pink ears bothers me. It's unnatural."

The floor creaks as Bucky emerges from his bedroom in Steve's borrowed sweats and a gray t-shirt, feet bare. He barges in on the conversation as if he'd been a part of it all along.

"You've never saw a hat before?"

One of these days...

Sam attempts to free the remote from Steve's grip and only succeeds in nearly falling on him. He huffs and straightens.

"She never takes it off. Besides, McDreamy's wife has returned. I think Meredith is going to dump him."

Bucky wordlessly takes the remote from Steve (wouldn't you know it, he doesn't even protest) and squeezes in against Steve despite the fact that there's an entire cushion that isn't being used. They might as well be attached at the hip with the way that they gravitate toward one another.

"How many times is that now? Five? Eight?"

Steve just barely stifles a laugh as he flips through the episodes.

Sam is not in the mood for pokes at his favorite show. "Shut up man, you don't even watch it."

Bucky tilts his head toward Steve then back at the television before once more returning to Steve. With that, Steve nods and Bucky plays the episode where Bob thinks he's potty training Tina but it's actually a raw turkey. It's Bucky's favorite and they've watched it on at least four different occasions. 

"I don't like hospitals," Bucky replies.

The beginning scene rolls and so do Sam's eyes. "It's all fake."

Steve idly skims his fingers over Bucky's right arm, back and forth with eyes glued to the television. Sam can't help but wonder if he even knows he's doing it. It had began three days after Bucky moved in with heaps of emotional baggage. Now here they were one year later and the soothing movement has became a habit. It's sweet in a You're So Emotionally Repressed That This Is As Far As It Goes sort of way.

Bucky deadpans. "There goes my vacation. I was going to swing by the hospital, shake hands with George. Thanks for ruining everything, birdman."

Honestly he doesn't mind the harmless bickering as Sam dishes it right back at him. 

Sam shrugs. "We could drop you off at St Marks if you want. I hear they've got a dude on the 4th floor that looks just like McDreamy. If that's your thing, silverware."

Before Bucky has a chance to fire off a comeback, Steve shushes both of them and turns the volume up eight decimals. Sam grumbles something under his breath about pink hats sewn onto hair and heads out for a quick run. He'll catch up on Grey's in the early morning hours when they're still asleep. He can wait.

+

It's a Tuesday and if there is any day that Sam hates more than Mondays it has to be this one. In his opinion it's another Monday but delayed. Having wrapped up a mission last week, the three of them have some free time at last. It's because of this that Sam wakes at six thirty in the morning, pours himself a cup of coffee and pads to the couch to catch up on his stories.

He's settling into the couch and fluffing a pillow with one arm while the Netflix queue loads. As usual he clicks Grey's Anatomy and gets three sips into his coffee when he hears it.

The ominous sound of what can only be a bed frame scraping inch by inch along the wooden floor. Of all the times for these two sexually frustrated idiots to finally make a move, they choose _now._

Sam turns up the volume to 35 in hopes that it will either drown out the noise (oh god there's moaning now) or that they'll hear it and know to cut that shit out. Or at least do it quietly. What they do in their spare time is none of his business but when it cuts into Grey's...

"Ssssstupid....p-punk..."

What the hell kind of foreplay is that.

"Mmm... _yours_."

Voyeurism isn't Sam's thing and right now he feels like he has a front row seat to the dustiest, cobwebbiest sex that the world has never had the displeasure of overhearing. It makes him cringe on the inside. As far as he's concerned neither of them have sex. Ever. That had been true until tonight at least and now he'll have those images in his head for weeks. 

He chooses to drown them out with his beloved show.

On the screen, Meredith ignores McDreamy as much as one can when they work with their romantic interest.

Sam stirs his coffee, huffs. _That's what you get for being a lyin' ass, McDreamy. You're not even that handsome, man._

Steve's voice breaks through his thoughts, comes out ragged and slightly broken. "You...jerk...you left me."

Oh. They've moved onto emotional pitfalls. This should be fun in a very painful getting-your-nails-ripped-off manner.

"If I'd had a choice, Steve..."

For a moment there is only the sound of heavy sobbing and shuffling.

Steve's voice comes out muffled, a response to something quiet enough that Sam hadn't overheard. "God...don't apologize. Please."

On that note, Sam turns off the television and softly retreats to his room. This emotional fallout was long overdue, it had to happen at some point. They'd purposely waited until they thought he was asleep, he could appreciate that. Even so, some days he felt completely out of the loop when it came to them. For that matter he wasn't even aware that they were sharing the same room. They'd taken things slowly at first, edging into this and had apparently decided to throw caution to the wind and dive in head first. 

He did not sleep well that night.

+

The next morning, Steve silently butters toast as Bucky claims his carton of juice; pours himself a cup and then Steve. Sam is on his own as always. Jokes on them, he has two extra cartons stashed in his room because sometimes _his_ juice container is lighter than it was when he went to bed. He takes this whole thieving roommates business very seriously.

Sam scrapes eggs onto his plate and accepts three slices of toast from Steve before taking his seat at their faded kitchen table. It was beyond needing replaced. Or a paint job. Something, anything to make it look less like it belongs on the curb with a cardboard sign at its side.

Steve and Bucky continue to putter around the kitchen, passing toast and cups, exchanging plates in order to fill the others with food. Sam watches as he forks eggs into his mouth.

He notices how Bucky's hand skims over Steve's hip as he walks past him to retrieve napkins. And then Steve wipes all speculation off of the map by placing the plates on the counter and wrapping both arms around Bucky's waist.

There's love in how they touch one another; in how Bucky leans into the embrace with back pressed against Steve's chest. Whatever mess they'd waded through last night had found them on the other side, together.

After a minute or two, Sam coughs loudly and scrapes a fork along his plate. True love can move over an inch or migrate back to the bedroom, they're blocking the sink. Steve turns with a grin and releases Bucky as he collects their plates and takes them to the table. 

Cold eggs, Sam thinks to himself. And I even put cheese in them, can't a man get any appreciation around here?

With a groan he deposits his dishes in the sink (they can soak, it's Steve's turn to wash them anyway) then plops down onto the couch. Ten minutes into the episode that he'd cut short last night, Bucky sits and somehow manages to take up more room than necessary as Steve fills the sink with soapy water.

"What season are we on, wings?"

No. They are _not_ doing this.

" _I'm_ on season two. _You're_ knee deep in that burger show. You know. With the hat and the wife with the hairy armpits?"

Bucky chuckles and wiggles around until he's comfortable, fluffing throw pillows and stuffing them behind his back as one does when they're stealing most of the couch.

"Bob's Burgers."

"Yeah well. There's no burgers on this show, just severed dicks and cheating."

Sam takes a moment to enjoy the look of confusion on Bucky's face as he cringes and tries to figure out how a person could react that violently to cheating. But then again Peggy Carter had shot at Steve's shield when she caught him kissing another girl and they hadn't even made it official yet. 

"They're not linked. You can stop thinking so deeply now."

Steve steps through the doorway with a kitchen towel thrown over his shoulder and hands on his hips as if he were wearing his suit rather than ratty sweats.

"Severed what?"

Bucky deadpans, eyes on the screen as he replies. "Some guy got his dick cut off."

Jesus Christ.

" _Bit_ off," Sam corrects. If they're going to oogle his show, they might as well get the details right.

Steve gapes and covers his crotch with one hand before returning to the kitchen.

That'll teach 'em.

It does not.

Instead, the three of them end up squished together on the cramped couch as Grey packs around the specimen in an insulated container. Steve insists on Sam giving up the center seat in order for he and Bucky to sit together. They even go so far as to hold hands and Sam is sure that one of them is going to end up with a hand that falls asleep if they keep this up. They'd probably keep on holding on despite it. It probably has a deeper meaning but Sam isn't willing to dig that deep into their relationship or his friendship for that matter. All he knows is this: James Barnes fell from a train in '43 and Steve was consumed with guilt over it all the way up until recently. Bucky had reached for his hand and it wasn't enough to save him. 

He'll give them this at least.

+

Sam's issue with Bucky is solely invested in Netflix in that he skips ahead and now Sam knows that George dies.

Silverware is no longer allowed to watch the show unless he promises to keep the spoilers to himself.

Both he and Steve agree on this.


End file.
